Teaching about Felix Baumgartner’s Jump in the Classroom

The following ideas for teachers in incorporating Felix Baumgartner’s Jump into the high school classroom comes courtesy of teq.com (Primary resources provided below):

1. Use Fluid Math to teach acceleration due to gravity. The video below shows how FluidMath’s Animation feature allows you to write a function (such as ax= – 9.8t2) that describes an object’s motion, and then run a simulation of the movement along a path.

2. Use Algodoo to simulate the ascent and the descent. Algodoo is the fun 2D physics simulator which allows you to plot the speed of an object (Baumgartner) over time. The video below shows how to plot a free falling object’s speed over time, and how to change Gravity and Air Resistance. A trial version of Algodoo for education can be downloaded here.

3. Share Video of the Jump with your class. The videos are easy to find. If you’re blocked from YouTube at your school, check out Convert.Files. If you like the meme below, just drag it into SMART Notebook!

4. Simulations of Physical Phenomena related to Felix Baumgartner’s jump. PhET, from the University of Colorado, has great interactive learning objects. Here are some of the best (related to the jump): gas properties, friction, gravity calculator.

5. Follow Bobak Ferdowski on Twiter. Ferdowski is a Systems Engineer at NASA. He’s brought a new level of cool to federal social media. Follow him for the latest on NASA events, comments on space news, or if you want to know what to major in (Physics or Engineering) in college.